Machine for extracting juice from fruits or vegetables



Inventor Appl. No, Filed Patented Assignee Priority Max WunderlinMannedor'f, Switzerland 796,816

Feb. 5, 1969 Oct. 20, 1970 Turmix A.G.,

Zurich, Switzerland Feb. 8, 1968 Switzerland MACHINE FOR EXTRACTINGJUICE FROM FRUITS R VEGETABLES Claims, 2 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl

Int. Cl

[50] Field ofSearch I46/3.8,3, 3.1 1,3.13, 76.1

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,305, I 93 12/1942 Reynoldset al. 146/76 3,407,858 /1968 Smith et al 146/76 Primary Examiner-WillieG. Abercrombie Attorney-Watson, Cole, Grindle and Watson ABSTRACT: Amachine for extracting juice from fruits or vegetables having a mkingdevice rotatably mounted in a casing and having a filler tube mounted toone side of the axes of rotation of the raking device. A drive shaft isconnected to the raking device with a motor provided to rotate the shaftand 146/76, raking device and an elastic coupling is mounted between the146/3 transmission shaft from the motor and the raking device to A23nU02, take care of any imbalance of a wire basket provided to catch A47j[9/00 the pulp and juice from the raking device.

73 V v I i 3 a5- as 34 35 37 26 q 29 37 JO 1 Patented Oct. 20, 19703,534,793

Sheet 1 of 2 l v j 73 5 g 29 31 so i 20 16%; I 15 i 32. TZl

Fig. I

INVENTOR.

Patented Oct. 20, 1970 3,534,793

Sheet 2 of2 L. I l J Fig. 2

INVENTOR, M547 Wu '72 01662471 The present invention relates to a devicefor obtainingjuice from fruits or vegetables with a raking arrangementrotatable eccentrically or concentrically in front of the mouth of afiller tube and driven by a motor by means of an elastic coupling, whichdevice is in firm connection with a wire or other basket.

in the case of known devices of the mentioned type, the raking devicedeveloped as a raking disk rotates with a. slight constant distance infront of the mouth of a filler tube. The fruit or vegetable parts fed tothe device through said tube are comminuted by the raking arrangementand are thrown by the centrifugal force against the inside wall of thewire basket which has the shape of a cylinder casing, whereby by meansof said centrifugal force, the juice is separated from the solidcomponents of the matter which is to be juiced. Since the matter that isto be juiced is fed generally in a discontinuous manner, often aconsiderably uneven distribution of the solid components of the fruitsand vegetables will result at the inside periphery of the wire basketand because of the high rpm a correspondingly strong imbalance mayresult. The latter results in undeniable considerable vibrations of thedevice, so that the process for obtaining juice will have to interruptedin most instances and the wire basket has to be emptied and cleanedbefore the latter will have reached the permissible degree of filling.

Essentially, an object of the invention consists in avoiding thedisadvantage just described. in the case of an arrangement of thementioned type, this will be achieved according to the invention andessentially by the fact, that one can bring about an enlargement of thedistance between the exit of the filler tube and the sector of theraking arrangement adjoining the imbalance of the wire basket by theswitching of an'elastic coupling between the motor and the raking devicewhenever an imbalance of the wire basket occurs. Also the elasticity ofthe coupling will endeavor to bring the axis of symmetry of the rakingdevice and of the wire basket into axial agreement with the drivingshaft.

Further characteristics, advantages and details of the invention willbecome clear from the claims and from the succeeding description of twoembodiments given by way of example of the device according to theinvention, shown in the attached drawing in which;

FIG. 1 is a side elevation partly in section showing the deviceaccording to the invention, and 3 FIG. 2 is a side elevation partly insection showing a modified structure. a

The device or juicer according to FIG. 1 has a cylindricalshaped housing11 provided with feet 10, and in which an electric motor, not shown, hasbeen installed. A juice collecting dish 12 is placed on the housing 11,which is closed by a cover 13, which has a filler tube 14 therethrough.The juice collecting dish 12 which has a collecting channel 15, and abeak-shaped exit channel 16 which with the cover 13, can be fixed inrelation to the housing 11 by way of holding elements, not shown in thedrawing.

One end 17 of the shaft 18 of the electric motor, located in the axis ofthe housing 11, projects from a central upper opening 19 in the housing11 toward the juice collecting dish 12, which has a lower circularopening 21 limited by the inside edge of the collecting channel 15. Thehub 22 of a plate 23, which has the shape of a circular disk, has beenfirmly pressed onto the end 17 of the motor shaft 18 which has beenprovided with a knurled or rough surface. The plate 23, has wing ribs 24for the ventilation of the motor, said ribs running radially on the sidefacing the motor, and is provided as well with a peripheral edge part 25projecting upwardly with U-shaped cross section open in a downwarddirection. On its top side the plate 23 has been provided with radiallyrunning reinforcing ribs 26, and the top part of the hub 22 has ahemispherical seat 27 for the joint 28, having likewise ahemispherical-shaped end of a central centering projection, pointingdownwards and being a second plate 29, which is arranged immediatelyabove the first plate 23. The length of the centering projection 2hpoints downwards and has, at the same time, been selected in such amanner that, in case the planes of the plates lie parallel to oneanother, the upper plate 29 will have a slight distance from theperipheral edge part 25 of the lower plate 23. For the transmission ofthe rotating movement of the lower plate 23 to the upper plate 29, thereareseveral driver pins 36) which project from the latter downwards, andwhich pierce opening 311 in the peripheral edge part 25 of the lowerplate 23. The diameter of the opening 3i has been selected in such asize, that swinging movements of-the upper plate 29, in relation to thelower plate 23, are possible without the driver pins 30 grazing thewalls of the opening 31. The two plates 23 and 23, supported againsteach other in the ball bearing 27 and 23, have been united into anelastic coupling with angular movement by helical compression springs 32which have been placed on each driver pin 30 from below and which areheld in their prestressed condition by a stop disk 33, each attached tothe lower end of its pin 30. The maximum deflection angle of saidcoupling is limited by the smaller distance between the peripheral edgepart 25 of the lower plate 23 and the underside of the upper plate 29.Instead of the helical compression springs 32 which endeavor to bringthe rotational axis of the raking device into an axial agreement withthe motor shaft 1153, one can also use elastic hollow bodies or similardevices made of rubber. t

The top side of the plate 29 in its center has a threaded pin 34projecting perpendicularly upwards and on which a nut 35 has beenscrewed on. A wire basket 36 and a flat raking disk 37 are pressed onits underside against the flat top side of the plate 29. The exit end 33is a proper distance from the raking disk 37, so that said raking disk37 will not graze or contact against the tiller tube 14 arranged on theexit 33 eccentrically in relation to the raking disk 37 even if the wirebasket 32 has an extremely oblique position in relation to the lowerplate 23.

The method of use and operation of the device described is as follows:The material that is to be juiced is fed into the filler tube 14 and ispressed lightly against the revolving raking disk 37 which comminutesthe material that is to be juiced, by means of a plug not shown in thedrawing. The comminuted material is thrown against the perforated wallof the wire basket 36 by centrifugal force, whereby the juice is thrownagainst the cylindrical wall of the juice collecting dish l2 through theperforated holes and is collected in the collecting channel 15. Thesolid components of the material that is to be juiced are held back inthe inside of the wire basket along its wall.

llf because of some imprecision in fabrication or because of an unevendistribution of the comminuted material an imbalance occurs at the wirebasket, then the latter exerts a pitching moment on the wire basket 361connected with the upper plate in consequence of the thrust point of thewire basket being at a distance in an axial direction from the balljoint 27 and 28. The wire basket 36, because of the elastic coupling,will tilt toward that side on which the imbalance exists, and the rakingdisk 37 joins in this inclination. The revolving raking disk 37 thusshows the largest distance from the mouth 38 of the tiller tube 14 inthat sector of its raking surface which is closest to the imbalance ofthe wire basket and it shows the relatively smallest distance in thatsector which is diametrically opposed thereto. Since the material filledinto the filler tube M is not capable of following the rapid up and downmovement of the raking surface, because of the relatively large massinertia to which the plug that had been put on and especially also thehand which presses on the latter contribute, less material is rakedtogether by that sector of the raking disk which is closest to theimbalance than by the raking disk sector which is diametrically opposedthereto. Since, furthermore, the mouth 38 of the tiller tube 114 and thethrust point of the wire basket, viewed from the ball joint 27 and 28,lie on the same axial side, an automatic compensation of the imbalanceor a reduction of the imbalance to a tolerable measure will be broughtabout in this manner and the initially mentioned undesirable vibrationswill be avoided.

The embodiment of the device according to the invention. given by way ofexample and shown in FIG. 2, differs from the one described only in thedevelopment of the elastic coupling, the shape of the wire basket, theraking device and the exit of the filler tube, as well as in the methodof operation. Therefore, only those details which deviate from the firstembodiment will be explained in the following:

the device according to FIG. 2 shows a rotationally fixed lower plate 40placed on the knurled end 17 of the motor shaft 18, on which an upperplate 41 rests. The contact surface of the two plates 40 and 41 is inthe shape of a circular ring and is provided at the front surface as aconcentric rib 42 on the plate 41 which is directed downwards, which rib42 rests on the flat peripheral edge part of the lower plate 40. The twoplates 40 and 41 are connected with one another by a centering body 43which is elastic, as for example rubber, and which has been fixedlyattached in corresponding recessions of the center parts of the twoplates 40 and 41 opposing each other at a distance. The lower plate 40has a concentric rib 44 projecting from its upper side, whose outsidediameter is somewhat less than the inside diameter of the concentric rib42 and projecting downwards from the upper plate 41. -The two contactplates 40 and 41 can therefore be shifted counter to the elastic effectof the centering body 43 in any desired radial direction by a smalldistance in relation to one another. The stretch of shift at the sametime is given by half the difference of the diameter of the cylindricaloutside or inside surfaces of the concentric ribs 44 and 42 of the lowerplate 40 or upper plate 41. acting as supporting surfaces. A wire basket45 and a raking disk 46 have been placed on the upper plate 41, in ananalogous manner as in the case of the first embodiment, whereby thepart of the raking disk 46, which can be moved along and under the mouth47 of the filler tube 14, has the shape of the jacket of a circulartruncated cone, whose larger diameter points upwards. The distance ofthe edge of the mouth 47 from the raking surface of the taking disk 46,pointing inward, has been dimensioned in such a way that upon an extremereciprocal shifting of the two plates 40 and 41 the raking disk 46 doesnot graze against the filler tube.

The method of use and operation of the device according to FIG. 2difiers in the following from that according to FIG. 1. If an imbalanceof the wire basket occurs, then a radial shearing force in the directionof the resulting centrifugal force will act on the upper end part of therubber elastic centering body 43. As a result thereof. the upper plate41 is shifted in the our responding radial direction in relation to thelower plate 40. This partial shifting will result in the fact, that thesector of the revolving raking disk which is closest to the imbalance ofthe wire basket has a larger distance from the mouth 47 of the fillertube than does the diametrically opposed sector, as a result of which acompensation or a reduction of the imbalance is accomplished analogouslyto the one occurring in the embodiment according to FIG. 1.

The advantage of the devices described consists essentially in that bythe almost complete elimination of the imbalance, practically novibrations occur. The described devices thus remain standing on theirfeet even during a prolonged operation without any need for them to beheld manually and it will no longer be necessary to interrupt theextracting process after the shortest time in order to remove the solidcomponents of the material that is to be juiced from the wire basket.

lclaim: I

l. A machine for extracting juice from fruits or vegetables comprising araking device rotating eccentrically in front of a mouth of a fillertube, a motor to drive the raking device, a wire basket, an elasticcoupling firmly connected with the wire basket so that upon an imbalanceof the wire basket an increase in the distance between a mouth of thefiller tube and a sector of the raking device adjoining the imbalance ofthe wire basket can be brought about by the elastic coulpling whichlatter is switched between the motor and the ra mg device, and a drivingshaft from the motor to the raking device, the elasticity of thecoupling will tend to bring the axis of symmetry of the raking deviceand the wire basket into axial agreement with the driving shaft.

2. A machine according to claim I, in which the elastic coupling isangularly movable and has a centering joint at an axial distance from athrust point of the wire basket. the thrust point of the wire basket andthe mouth of the filler tube viewed from the centering joint lying onthe same axial side.

3. A machine according to claim 1, in which the coupling has two platesadjoining in an axial direction of which one carries the raking disk andthe wire basket connected therewith, and the other plate is connectedfirmly and rotatably with the driving shaft, one plate having acentering projection mounted swivelably in each direction in the otherplate, and in which drivers are provided for the transmission of therotational movement from one plate to the other plate, and resilientelements are provided which engage each other at both plates and exertoppositely directed forces against them.

4. A machine according toclaim l, in which the elastic coupling has twocooperating plates shiftable in any desired radial direction in relationto one another which have been provided each with a concentric stopsurface for the limitation of the path of shifting, and the plates areunder the action of at least one elastic centering element. which willtend to bring the axes of the plates into agreement, and in which one ofthe plates carries the raking device provided with a raking surfacedirected toward the inside and having the shape of a jacket of atruncated cone and also carries the wire basket connected with theraking device, and the other plate has been connected fixedly androtatably with the driving shaft.

5. A machine according to claim 3, in which the resilient elements arein the form of springs.

